JPS61179754A - Pattern converting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to perform various font indication inputs by a logical number, by mounting a memory means, a specifying means for specifying various fonts in the memory means by the logical numbers from the outside and a selection means for selecting the font of the same logical number specified by the specifying means according to the number input from the outside. CONSTITUTION:A font memory 11 stores plural kinds of fonts A-D and a physical specifying means specifies the fonts A-D in the font memory 11 by allotting physical numbers thereto. For the purpose of the specification, a logical specifying means13 holds physical number 0-3 and the head addresses of the corresponding fonts A-D and a register 16 specifies the physical number in the physical specifying means by allotting logical numbers thereto. For the purpose of theis specification, a register 17 holds logical numbers 00-30 and the corresponding physical numbers 0-3 in pairs. A comparing means 14 compares the indication code N from the outside with the logical number read through a line 110 and a selection means 15 connects character code input C to the logical number font wherein coincidence was obtained in the comparing means 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a pattern conversion device, and more particularly to a pattern conversion device that selectively outputs a plurality of types of patterns.

``Prior Art'' In recent years, as laser printers have become more widespread, the types of characters that can be output have become more diverse.For example, enlarged or reduced characters can be used by specifying them from a keyboard on an operation panel. Also, capital letters (BO
It is also possible to use characters such as L (L) or italic (ITALIC). A so-called pattern conversion device is a device that generates a desired font pattern according to these user specifications, but conventionally, this type of pattern conversion requires complicated control and parameter specification.

To explain this point in more detail, FIG. 81 is a block diagram showing a conventional pattern conversion device, in which 1 is the device body, 4
is a printer that prints using a font pattern P output from the main body L. Furthermore, in the main body L, 2 is a font memory for reading out a font pattern FP using a character address FA, and 3 is a font memory for accessing the font memory 2 using a character code C (character address FA), and the read pattern FP is read out according to a specified parameter T. In a configuration of 0 or more, which is a pattern conversion φ forming unit that performs size conversion, character spacing conversion, etc. and forms and outputs a desired font pattern P, when the user specifies a font from the keyboard, this is pattern converted and formed as parameter T information. However, according to the conventional configuration and method of the pattern conversion/formation section 3, the parameter T is information that converts the character spacing into one character size, and the thickness and inclination of the characters into several specific numbers. Furthermore, it was necessary to create a parameter T, since it was necessary to provide information to distinguish the type of character design, etc. This not only makes the pattern conversion/formation section 3 complicated, but also complicates the structure and control itself of the pattern conversion/formation section 3. Moreover, since the parameter T is unique to this type of pattern conversion device, the font specifications of printers and word processors that use it are restricted from the time of manufacture, and there is a lack of flexibility.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and its purpose is to convert various font designation inputs into logical numbers (for example, integers determined by the convenience of the user).
The object of the present invention is to provide a pattern conversion device that can perform the pattern conversion.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a pattern converting device that has a simple structure and control for obtaining various phono-ltl powers, and can flexibly determine the correspondence between logical numbers and fonts.

[Example J Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail according to the hot material drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a pattern conversion device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG.
Various functions realized by program execution (Figs. 3 to 5) of the PU (not shown) are shown in blocks, where 11 is a font memory that stores AND of multiple types of fonts, and 12 is a font memory. font AN in ll
A physical identification means 13 assigns and identifies a physical number (an integer determined based on the device configuration, etc.) to D; 16 is a logical specifying means for allocating logical numbers to the physical numbers O to 3 in the physical specifying means 12, and 17 is a register that is held in pairs, for example, logical numbers OO to 30 and corresponding physical numbers O -3 in pairs; 14 is a comparison means for comparing the external (font) finger/foot code N (number) with the logical number read out via line 110; 15 is a comparison means for comparing the character code C To the logical number font that matches with means 14! ffi
It is a means of selection for

The font memory 11 is composed of ROM, RAM, or a combination thereof, and fonts can be loaded into the RAM from the outside via line 106.

Font memo: Shi11 is a regular font (REGULAR
), various fonts such as enlarged font, reduced font, large palm font CBOLD), italic font CI
TALIC), footnote font (FOOTNOTE)
etc. are stored separately. An index register M for accessing the font memory 11 provides any starting address to the phono A-D via a line 102. The readout pattern P of the font memory 11 is a pattern desired by the user as it is, and is sent to the printer 4 via the line 105. Furthermore, for example, it is possible to store a number in advance in a specific area of font A to identify the first font, and for this purpose, initialization processing 2 in FIG. The number read from the font specific area can be stored in register 13 via line 104.

An address register G is provided in the physical identification means 12, which register G can access any of the contents of the register 13 via a line 103. It is also possible to write the contents of register G. An address register B is provided in the logic specifying means 16, which register B can access any of the contents of the register 17 via a line 112. It is also possible to move the contents of register B to register G.

With the above configuration, the operation of the embodiment will be described below.

Figures 3(a) and (b) relate to the initialization process of an embodiment that assigns physical numbers to fonts A-D, and Figure 3(a) shows that the physical numbers are phono) in the physical storage order of fonts A-D. For example, when a laser beam printer equipped with this apparatus is powered on, line 10 is a flowchart showing assigned processing.
A power-on detection signal PWRON is applied via 7 and input to the initialization process 1. In step Sl, register GI
0, and in step S2, register BIO is set. In step S3, index register M is initialized to the first address of font A (physically stored first).Step S
In step S4, it is determined whether or not font A exists at that address. If font A exists, in step S5, a physical number is assigned to the font and the register 17 is associated with it. Initially, the content of register G is O, so address O of register 13 is selected and the content of G, 0, is written in the first half.
G) 1←G), and the contents of G are added to the second half of register 17.
is written ((B)2←G), and the first address of phono)A is written in the second half of register 13 (CG)
2←Ml At step S6, the contents of register G are plus 1
Then, in step S7, the contents of register B are incremented by 1, and in step S8, the contents of index register M are updated to indicate the starting address of NEXT (physically next stored phono) B). returns to step S4 and determines whether font B exists there. In this way, the same process as described above is repeated for up to font D, and when it is determined that the next phono E does not exist, the process ends.

Incidentally, in the case shown in FIG. 3(a), instead of going to the trouble of executing initialization process 1, it is also possible to configure the device in advance so that a predetermined number (0 to 3) is assigned to the physical storage order of the font. good.

FIG. 3(b) relates to the initialization process of another embodiment,
12 is a flowchart showing a process in which a physical number is specified by a number held by fonts A to D themselves. Furthermore, the third
The same processing blocks as those in FIG. 2A are given the same numbers and their explanations will be omitted. 1113 Step S in the same manner as in FIG.
If it is determined that there is a phono) A at the address, the process proceeds to step S9. In step S9, the number read from the specific area of font A (the first address of each font in the embodiment) is assigned to font A, and the register 17 Bring good luck. That is, since the contents of the address register G are initially 0, the θ address of the register 13 is selected, and the contents read from the first address M of the font A are written in the first half of the register (
G)l←(M)).

Furthermore, the content read from the first address M is written in the latter half of register 17 ((B)2←(M)).If the number O is written in the address M, then the physical number 0 is written in the font A. If it is assigned and written as 1, it is the physical number l.
will be assigned. Also, the latter half of register 13 is a phono)
The first address of A is written (CG)2←M1. The following processing is the same as that in FIG. 3(a). In this case, since the font itself has a physical number that identifies itself, there is an advantage that the physical number does not change no matter which address in the font memory 11 the font is loaded (ROM is inserted into).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing font specification processing before use. For example, when a user or the like wishes to specify a font using a desired logical number, tree processing is executed prior to this. In step Sll, the designation code N (corresponding to physical numbers 0 to 3) inputted via line 109 in accordance with the command I inputted via line 113, and the register 17 pointed to by the address register B at that time. The comparing means 14 compares the contents of the latter half (physical number) of the physical number. If no match is found, the process advances to step 312 and the contents of address register B are incremented by one.

In step 513, the contents of address register B are up to 4.
It is determined whether or not r1 (for example, 3) has been exceeded, and if it has not been exceeded, the process returns to step Sll. If it is exceeded, the address register B is reset in step 314 and the process returns to step 311. Eventually, if a match is found in step 11, the process proceeds to step 315, where the next logical number N' (for example, OO to 30) sent via line 109 is stored in the first half of register l'7 (CB)t← N'
), thus the logical numbers are paired with physical numbers and have a one-to-one correspondence with fonts A-D. Incidentally, if the user or the like wishes to know what physical number is signed on the valve device in order to determine this correspondence, the contents of the register 17 can be read out via the line ill. In addition, in the case shown in Figure 143 (a), instead of going to the trouble of executing the initialization process l, a predetermined number (0 to 3) was assigned in advance to the physical storage order of the font; Instead of executing the specifying process shown in FIG. 4, the device may be configured so that a predetermined logical number is fixedly assigned in advance.

After the identification process is completed, the user can then manually specify the 7 onts A to D using keys of logical numbers (for example, 00 to 30) that he or she has determined. If the user is unfamiliar with the number OO~30
If the original meaning of the font (enlargement, reduction, etc.) does not match, a symmetry table will be provided near the console for convenience. However, normally, the physical storage order of 0, which can be easily specified without a symmetry table, for example, font ROM This is convenient when replacing or reloading a phono because it can intuitively correspond to the logical number.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing font designation processing during use. Note that the same processing blocks as those in FIG. 4 are given the same numbers and their explanations will be omitted. This process is input when the user or the like specifies a desired font. Step 52
1, a designation code N is input via line 109 in accordance with a command I to that effect input via line 113.
(corresponding to logical numbers 00 to 30) and the contents (logical number) of the first half of the register 17 pointed to by the address register B at that time by the comparing means 14. If no match is found, the process advances to step 312 and the same processing as in FIG. 4 is performed.

Eventually, when a match is obtained in step 321, the process proceeds to step 322, where the contents of register B are transferred to register G, and in step 323, the leading address of register 13 is written to index register M (M←(G)2). ),
That is, the output of the comparison means 14 connects the switch of the selection means 15 to the corresponding logical number contact via the line 108, and connects the subsequent character code C to the designated logical number font.

In the above embodiment, the physical specifying means 12 assigned numbers to the font ANDs in the font memory 11 according to their physical storage order, but the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, numbers may be assigned sequentially from the top of the hardware board, since this is convenient because the correspondence with logical numbers is intuitive in the case of a ROM replacement method. Further, this can be done, for example, by creating a table of each start address of the font AND according to the actual arrangement (for example, from top to bottom).

(Effects) As described above, according to the present invention, the user can input various font designations using, for example, logical numbers determined by the user, thereby easily constructing a pattern conversion application device that is convenient to operate.

Further, according to the present invention, the structure and control for obtaining various font outputs are simple, and since the correspondence between specified numbers and fonts can be flexibly changed, a flexible pattern conversion device can be provided at a low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional pattern conversion device, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a pattern conversion device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 (IL) is a flowchart showing a process in which physical numbers are assigned in the order of physical storage of phono A to D. FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the font specifying process before use, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the font specifying process during use. Here, 10... main body, 11... font memory,
12...Physical identification means, 13...Register, 14.
... Comparison means, 15 ... Selection means, 16 ... Logic specifying means, 17 ... Register. Figure 3 (0) Figure 3 (b) Figure 4

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Storage means for storing a plurality of types of fonts, identification means for specifying the various fonts in the storage means with logical numbers from the outside, and the same ring identified by the identification means according to the number input from the outside. A pattern conversion device comprising a selection means for selecting a number font. (2) The pattern conversion device according to claim 1, wherein the specifying means specifies the physical order of the various fonts in the storage means using a logical number from the outside. (3) The pattern conversion device according to claim 1, wherein the specifying means specifies the numbers read from predetermined areas of various fonts in the storage means using external logical numbers.